


I Trust You

by klutzy34



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode Tag, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 02:24:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6592789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klutzy34/pseuds/klutzy34
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coda to 6x20. Worried that he hurt Steve's feelings, Danny decides to talk to him after a few beers about the meaning behind the joke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Trust You

He felt like shit.

More accurately, a pile of dung left to ferment in the noontime sun of Honolulu could not compare to the shitty he felt right then. When Steve didn’t reply to his awkward little jest, thrown at his back as he walked out the door of Danny’s office, he felt his heart sink to settle on his gut and abruptly quash the beginning pangs of hunger that came with skipping lunch because impenetrable suited madmen were afoot.

“You’re a putz, Williams,” he muttered under his breath, using what little space wasn’t taken up by the suit to rest his elbows on and bury his head in his arms. As a detective, he prided himself on being able to read people, or at least catch a general feeling of their mood, but he couldn’t figure out for the life of them when that old joke of theirs stopped being funny. Yet there was the proof of it, the flicker of annoyance on Steve’s face, his words before he ordered him to return the suit.

Did he honestly think Danny really wanted to keep it? Sure, it was extremely interesting and who wouldn’t want to give it a go, but honestly, as bulky as it was, it would be a hindrance to the finer points of the job. The export company that fronted the project already expected him to escort it over in an hour, so he reran the conversation in his head until he’d either settled in him finally pushing it too far or blown it entirely out of proportion worrying. Either was likely in his case.

Once the suit returned to the proper authorities, Danny made a pit stop at the gas station for a pack of Longboards before heading home. Eric was out, no doubt still trying to work his way into Chunk’s good graces before she left, and the house greeted him with absolute silence. After the day he had, it would have been a nice reprieve had it not been for Steve’s reaction still bothering him. One moment, not even a full minute, and he’d lost several hours analyzing and overanalyzing.

Mostly because their friendship seemed destined to crash on rocky shoals these days with the slightest nudge. That very thing terrified him, the thought of a Steve shaped hole in his life.

About the third beer, the concern started to give way to anger. One, if Steve felt annoyance over the joke, he could have said something by then to prevent Danny from forcefully shoving his foot in his mouth. As much as he liked a good steak, he was not a fan of shoe and loafer tasted horrible. Two, did he not see every little contradictory action? That Danny trusted him with his most precious, now two precious things in his life? That as much as he grumbled, he followed him into a firefight without resistance? He slammed his fifth beer down, the bottle toppling and spilling the little left into the table. He quickly set it back up. “You stay,” he told the bottle, wagging his finger threateningly, then grabbed his keys.

On second thought, he had a standard to uphold and driving while buzzed would certainly not enforce that. He dropped the keys and headed for the kitchen to grab the number for a cab.

The lights were dim by the time he arrived at the McGarrett household. He tossed a few bills at the driver, overpaying him but after having to put up with Danny working through his thoughts in the backseat out loud and then being shushed when he interjected, the man deserved it.

He swayed slightly as he headed up the steps, not exactly drunk but just buzzed enough that quick motion became problematic. His first thought was to let himself in but knowing Super SEAL, he already put on the alarm to go to sleep at some ungodly early hour so he could get up at an even worse early morning hour to putter around the ocean. Not that that stopped Danny from hammering on the door. “ _Steven!_ I have to talk to you,” he called through the door, then raised a fist to knock again when the door swung open and he missed, stumbling into his partner’s very shirtless chest.

Trying to preserve what was left of his dignity, he straightened up and squinted up at Steve. “You, my very tall partner, have yet to master communication,” he said, waving a finger in Steve’s face. “I have been mulling over things for hours with the help of my trusted liquid friend and I cannot do anything but feel terrible, but also very angry because as you said, you should know by now that I have your back as well.” Placing two hands on Steve’s chest (and pointedly ignoring one settled on a muscular pec), he pushed him back into the house. “That means I trust you.” 

His arms dropped and the temporary resolve have way to worry again. “Which I guess you don’t know and how does that even happen? I trust you with my kids, Steve, and my life!” He held out his hands, eyes wide and imploring. 

Sighing, Steve stepped back, arms folding loosely over his chest. “It’s just something that you say a lot, Danny,” he replied quietly, “and after a while, you begin to wonder if there isn’t something there under the joking. Some truth to it.”

“No. Nononono. No.” Danny shook his head hard and nearly toppled onto the couch when it made his head spin. “Nooo, I have been accused of beating a joke to death but there, my friend, is no truth to that. I trust you,” he added, poking Steve in the chest with each word for emphasis. “I trust you and you are my partner and my friend and I’m worried, okay? Things have been distant lately and I worry about pushing another person away but I am me and sometimes my foot resides in my mouth.” He dropped down to the couch, fingers running lightly through his hair.

“Danny, you are not pushing me away.” Steve dropped to the couch beside him, elbows resting on his knees. His knee bumped Danny’s and before Danny could stop himself, he put a hand on it and squeezed reassuringly. Steve didn’t pull away either, he couldn’t help but notice. “I don’t know what’s...I think it’s everything? With Catherine coming back and you finding out Charlie is your son and all his health trials, I just feel like maybe we’ve drifted a little.”

Danny swallowed hard. He hated it but what Steve said made sense. The time spent apart meant strain on what everyone else labeled a codependent relationship, which Danny thought was bullshit. He and Steve were fully (well, mostly) functional adults and highly independent at that. There was also that minor issue where Danny was head over heels for Steve to the point where engagement rings and Valentine’s Day dates made his heart ache to hear about, but he put on a brave smile or offered an ear to vent because he only wanted what was best for Steve.

“I don’t want to drift anymore,” he said softly, tone stubborn. “I will have my kids to worry about first and foremost - “

“As it should be,” Steve quickly interrupted, and never feel anything but good about that.” Danny had no doubt that Steve was reflecting on his own past with those words, the lost time he never got to spend with his own father. Danny squeezed his knee reassuringly again. 

“I do. I really do, but I don’t want you to float too far from me either because - “ He hesitated, the liquid courage the only reason he could say anything now. To his very male, possibly very straight partner, whom he loved immensely. Who went to Hell and back with Danny whenever he needed someone, who wouldn’t stop fighting for him, who the thought of losing terrified Danny almost as much as the thought of losing his kids.

“Because?” Steve asked, his hand slipping over Danny’s, fingers threading between his. Danny looked up at him, scrutinizing that face, the wrinkles beside concerned hazel eyes, lips twisted in a worried purse. His hand felt like it moved of its own accord, slipping behind Steve’s neck and pulling him close, his lips meeting his in a kiss that tested uncharted waters then dove for deeper, becoming harder, more needing.

Steve’s hand tightened in his and for one panicked moment, He thought Steve would push him off, which he had every right to do. Danny should have asked first but something in his buzzed brain felt that it would be better to show him. Instead, he felt Steve’s hand leave his and both hands fell on his hips, pulling him closer. 

“That,” Danny breathed as he pulled away, “that is what I feel. I’m in love with you, you schmuck, and I tease because I do care about you. Because I felt comfortable around you to do it, not because I actually thought you would. There are very few places I’m safe as when I’m with you.” 

Steve tugged at his hips and Danny awkwardly shifted over in his lap so he could look down at him, fingers lacing behind Steve’s neck. “And you waited this long to say something?”

Danny laughed humorlessly. If only Steve knew how long he’d known, how long he made excuses to not say anything. The excuses he’d made. “I was not going to get between you and Catherine. The way you two...you wanted to propose to her, Steve. Even now, that look in your face when you found out what she was really doing...it wasn’t my place. I don’t want to be the substitute until she comes back.”

Steve’s breath caught. “Do you really think that’s what you would be to me? Yes, I love Catherine and always will, but I meant what I said to her, Danny. I can’t wait around and she’s doing what she feels she needs to. And I do want to move on. I want to move on with you and I have been aware of that for a while.”

Danny frowned down at him. “You schmuck,” he muttered, irritated, then pulled him in for another kiss. This one went deeper, his tongue sliding between Steve’s lips and neither one pulling away until their lungs threatened to burst. “Next time, you have to tell me these things,” he added in a grumble.

Steve gave him that wonderfully cocky grin that he loved and aggravated him in equal measure, one that he felt he hadn’t seen in awhile. “Talking to yourself, Danno?” Danny pressed a finger to his lips.

“Look, I’m sorry about earlier and if something bothers you, you gotta tell me, okay?” he explained, taking a few steps back in conversation. Steve’s expression sobered and he looked down, thumbs kneading the skin on Danny’s hips under his untucked shirt. The way in which he suddenly touched him almost made Danny’s brain short circuit, but he had a point to make.

“I’ve gotten enough people killed, Danny. I don’t need to be reminded that I might get you killed someday too.”

Danny’s eyes grew wide. “Oh no, Steven McGarrett, you listen here. You work in one of the most dangerous professions in the world and the people around you, they know what they signed up for. When you add into it that you keep the company of way too many people who wouldn’t know honesty if they sat through a Powerpoint presentation on it, that we’re as safe around you as we are is a testament to who you are as a person. You know how I ended up in Colombia? Me. My daughter kidnapped? Me. You’ve done more for me than I feel like I’ve done for myself so you, Commander, need to let go of that blame or you are never going to find a moment of peace, peace that you deserve and I will fight anyone who says otherwise,” he declared, voice rising passionately as he stabbed a finger towards the ceiling.

Despite the sadness in his eyes, sadness that Danny wanted to fiercely kiss away, Steve grinned up at him. “I take it you feel strongly about that. Your voice didn’t even rise that much when you argued against pineapple on pizza,” he joked.

Scowling, Danny deflated slightly. “That’s because I love you, care for you more, than pizza. A little bit.” He held up a thumb and forefinger. “Look, I am sorry I hit on a sore subject.” He shifted uncomfortably in Steve’s lap, then the expression equivalent of a lightbulb going on appeared. Smacking Steve’s shoulder, he pushed back, getting onto his knees on the floor. “I’ve only done this once, in college, but he swore it helped - “

Steve’s hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders and tugged him to a standing position with you. “Not tonight, Danny,” he stated quickly, that damn look of concern back. Danny gave him a deadpan look. “You’ve been drinking and you and I, we need to talk more about this before we do that, but I’ve got a better idea.”

Reluctantly, Danny followed him upstairs. “I’m fine to make decisions, you know,” he muttered, but the moment Steve tugged him down on the bed, he offered no resistance. Steve pulled off his shoes, tossed his belt aside, then lay back to sling an arm over Danny’s waist. “So are we good?” he asked, running a finger along Steve’s arm. In the drinking and the arguing (on his end) and then the kissing and talking again, he lost track of where he even stood, but Steve’s soft chuckle sent a wave of warmth through his chest, as well as the feel of him cuddling closer.

“Yeah, Danno, we’re going to be just fine.”


End file.
